From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 4/22/2025 4:40 PM, bad sector wrote:   
   > On 4/12/25 20:40, Paul wrote:   
   >> On Sat, 4/12/2025 7:50 PM, bad sector wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>> Recovering data from my suddenly departed son's computer was a job and a   
   half, but it's mostly done. He had a huge server tower and I think he was   
   amusing himself with RAID (which he didn't need) and encryption (which he   
   didn't need) and so on!   
   >>>   
   >>> Drives:   
   >>>   
   >>> #1   
   >>> 500gb ssd with strange partitions for Linux and I think some created for   
   future Linux OSes, could't figure out his /home partition setup, possibly raid.   
   >>>   
   >>> #2   
   >>> 1tb ssd hosting fat and ext4 data PLUS a w7 and a w10 partition   
   >>>   
   >>> #3   
   >>> 4tb data   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> #4,5,6 in a Linux-Raid array, all data   
   >>>   
   >>> I copied out the #4 data set, cleared those drives, and released the tower   
   to the executors for liquidation. Then I also backed up what ever other data I   
   could find to other drives on hand.   
   >>>   
   >>> Plugged the # 1,2,3 drives into my own very similar computer; couldn't   
   believe it when everything just booted right up, even the two window installs!   
   This gave me the idea that I can relax and take my time doing the rest of the   
   recovey, filtering and    
   disposal as time permits because I can now just boot my son's systems on my   
   own computer. But it's my OLD computer.   
   >>>   
   >>> _____And that's how shit hit the fan   
   >>>   
   >>> I'm moving to a new and inevitably UEFI box, just plugging those 3 drives   
   in doesn't work any more, so...   
   >>>   
   >>> I copied the #1 drive to a 1tb ssd to have more space, then did a fresh   
   Linux (Tumbleweed) install to get EFI bootabilty. With that new #1 drive and   
   his other drives including the #2 with windows on it also plugged-in I ran   
   Yast to set up the EFI    
   boot. I can now boot either my temporary facilitating Linux install OR my   
   son's Linux (Leap-15.4) on the new EFI-BIOS board.   
   >>>   
   >>> But I cannot boot his windows, for that I'd have to keep my old   
   Legacy-BIOS box which I don't want to do (I can unload it for a few hundered   
   bills).   
   >>>   
   >>> Not knowing windows much I think I could do a w7 and a w10 fresh install   
   after having done two 'windows backups' on the legacy box and then try a   
   recovery from those windows-backup files on the new w7 and w10 installs on the   
   EFI box. There's GOTTA be    
   a simpler way   ..I hope.   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> With my Macrium CD, I can boot from the CD and back up any machine.   
   >>   
   >> You would not use the "Windows 7 Backup" that comes with Windows, because   
   >> of the rough edges. Commercial backup materials have the rough edges filed   
   off.   
   >>   
   >> *******   
   >>   
   >> Similar to your Tumbleweed facilitator install, you can install a Windows   
   side-by-side   
   >> in a sense. Use Macrium to clone over or backup-restore over, the partition   
   >> from the other box. Then do a Macrium CD boot repair, and the boot repair   
   (similar to   
   >> OSprober), it sees the orphan Windows partitions you added, and includes   
   >> them in the boot menu.   
   >>   
   >> Similar to third-party "EasyBCD" on Windows, you can use this command   
   >>   
   >>     bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:   
   >>   
   >> to add an item to the boot menu (stored in the BCD file, BCD file   
   >> format is actually a registry file).   
   >>   
   >> But, there is "much to and fro" involved. For example, somewhere along the   
   >> way, you will be holding an MSDOS Primary partition in your hand,   
   >> some other disk is GPT with GUID partition type declarations.   
   >>   
   >> What commercial tools will agree to bodge those items together   
   >> to make a whole part ?   
   >>   
   >> It's going to take trickery at some point.   
   >>   
   >> Perhaps you make a "shell" of a partition (exact sizing important)   
   >> on the GPT disk, then "dd" copy the MSDOS partition into the   
   >> space set aside for the GPT partition. I have no idea whether   
   >> that works. I can tell you, that the equivalent of an rsync   
   >> between Windows C: type partitions, would never work, due to   
   >> all the fiddly details involved in such things. Microsoft have   
   >> gone out of their way, to ensure you can't Robocopy the entire   
   >> C: drive into another partition. I *used* to do that in WinXP era,   
   >> but those were simpler times and the file systems were a bit more   
   >> bend-able back then.   
   >>   
   >> Windows has an MBR2GPT.exe utility, written by some hapless developer.   
   >> Any program carrying out composite file system operations (partition,   
   >> merge, shrink, done) is basically doomed to fail and fall on its face.   
   >> Developers normally stick to "primitive" "one step" commands, for safety.   
   >> Yet, somebody wrote that code... and it has enough smarts to reject   
   >> disk configurations it does not like. Leaving only one configuration   
   >> it does like. I think you can see coercing such a utility to do more   
   >> than it intended to do, is a tall ask. It will not accept any old   
   >> arbitrary configuration, and convert it.   
   >>   
   >> So yes, your mission looks like, technically do-able, but just about   
   >> all the tools will tell you "I don't like broccoli", "I will sit   
   >> here in this corner with this cold broccoli until hell freezes over",   
   >> and so on :-) You've seen this before somewhere.   
   >>   
   >> MBR2GTP.exe can help you cross that river, but it won't allow   
   >> you to carry a duck and a potato in the boat with you (a reference   
   >> to this problem, where the problem was modified for an AI to solve).   
   >> How the problem can involve a duck and a potato, I will never know.   
   >>   
   >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf,_goat_and_cabbage_problem   
   >>   
   >> Summary: Do-able, but mostly a bar bet, like a steam powered rocket launch   
   :-)   
   >>   
   >>     Paul   
   >>   
   >   
   > So far it's been one huge exercise in futility beginning with my own   
   impatiance. I had gone to great lengths to recover what bare data I could onto   
   even duplicate data disks, I even made duplicates of the 3 ssd's that   
   continued to perform *flawlessly*    
   on my own older Crosshair legacy board. BEFORE I first tried the windows DOS   
   disk I should have seen the red flag 'WHY did my son keep that one disk DOS   
   when ALL the othes were GPT'?  But in my haste I didn't. I should also have   
   dd'd mirror image FILES    
   of the win-10 partition!   
   >   
   > So when I first tried the windows (10) disk in my EFI box maybe I didn't   
   even have it in compatibility mode (or maybe I did, can't remember), it failed   
   to boot and THAT's when I lost the plot completely thinking 'well maybe   
   something's wrong with my    
   clone of the disk' and OTHERWISE unsuspectingly I just swapped it for the   
   (only) original one. In those few seconds win-10 on both got trashed (I   
   suspect by the w10 installer but don't really know).   
   >   
      
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